Me & Santa

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This is one year I can’t complain about what was in my Christmas stocking!!!!  No ma’am!!!!  I can’t!!!!!  No lump of coal for me!!!!

I must have been a very good girl this year because my stocking was overflowing with knit and non-knitterly related gifts.  More than I ever imagined.  😯  😯  😯

From my cousin, I received:

  • Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns Bk 1 & 2 plus Bk 3 which is the Charted Knitting Designs book.  I told you I must have been good cause those books are not exactly on the less costly side.  😳

From my uncle of all unlikely places, I received:

  • 60 More Quick Knits

It’s funny, since he didn’t exactly know what he was getting. He said he thought —  “it’s a knitting book, how wrong could I get?”  LOLOL!!!  What’s great is that I like this one more than I like the first book in this series.  I can see myself making all the projects in this book; and I’m especially drawn to the colour-work patterns.  I just know this book will come in handy once I start this technique.  🙂

I also got myself:

  • The Opinionated Knitter
  • Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac
  • The Big Book of Knitted Monsters (aren’t these adorable 😀  ).  My goal is to make a monster for my cousin’s baby due in April 2012.

I also received from a friendship made on Ravelry.com, these skeins of yarn from Asha.  The package was a wonderful surprise and I can’t wait to knit these up into beautiful F.Os.

I hope your Christmas was just as great or better!!!!! 🙂

2011: The Round-Up

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Crafting did not go the way I thought it would this year.  Between my job and developing arthritis in my right hand, F.Os (finished objects) were few and far between.  Whomp, Whomp.  😦   But even with that, this year has given me lots of learning opportunities where crafting, especially knitting,  is concerned.

I learned:

  • Crafting relaxes me.
  • That I have to make time to craft if I want to get better.
  • That I can do any stitch or pattern despite the difficulty rating if I put my mind to it.
  • I can say that I’m a process/technique knitter as opposed to a product finisher and I’m okay with that now. 
  • I need to stop living vicariously through others (my wickedly talented online buddies) and work on my own craft.  They were once beginners like me too.  Note to self —  no-one becomes good overnight or without practice.
  • Stop the presses for this one — there is such a thing as having too much yarn!!!!!  For a newbie, I have yarn up the wazoo.  Yarn with not enough F.Os make this crafter an unhappy girl.  I aim to make 2012 my “Year of the Stash”.
  • The online crafting community ROCKS!!!!  I’ve made some awesome connections through this medium — connections that I hope will continue to develop.  My goal in 2012 is to become more participatory while encouraging my buddies to keep at it!!!

I also found out about two months ago that I’m a knitter with no tension.  This makes my work tight and it’s responsible for my not knitting faster than I do.  That said, I’m starting from the beginning.  I’ve committed to learning to knit in the Continental style.  As an October birthday present, my mother paid for KnitFreedom’s Knitting Superstar online learning tool.  I can say so far, I have not been disappointed.  Not only is the knit instructor clear and concise, holding yarn with my left hand has been much easier for me than “throwing” (American style) so I’m anticipating much knitting growth in 2012!!!!  😀  At some point, I’ll move on to loom/machine knitting.  If I get to the point of not being able to clack needles because of the arthritis (mercy … this makes me sound so old …  😛 ), as long as I could move yarn with some kinda machine or hook, I’ll keep knitting.  😀

Yesterday, at my check-up, my Dr. reminded me that I have to make myself a priority.  That I need to do what makes me healthy and happy since at the end of the day, noone ever regretted that he/she worked too hard.  She reminded me to look forward to the things I enjoy and honestly, I’m looking forward to crafting in 2012!!!!!